86 TO-DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 315, 28 March 1928, Page 9

86 TO-DAY

FORMER STATIONMASTER TELLS HIS STORY PREDICTED BUS COMPETITION Working for ten hours a day for the “princely” sum of 5s a week is one of the earliest recollections of Mr. William Crombie. To-day he celebrated his 86th birthday. Long hours and little pay in his youth evidently did not affect Mr. Crombie. He is % a hale and hearty Scot who is enjoying excellent health at Manurewa, where he now lives with his daughter, Mrs. Russell. Aucklanders knew l\4k\ Crombie best when he held the position of stationmaster here. That was in 1908. Before that he had held many positions, one of which was secretary to the late Thomas Bracken, poet and politician. Mr. Crombie was born at Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, Scotland, on March 28, 1842. At the age of 14 he joined the North British Railway Company as a cadet, working for 5s a week at a tifne when hours were not the consideration they are to-day. He filled a number of subordinate positions in the service at Home, and for nine and a-half years he was stationmaster at Peebles, Scotland. At the .age of 36, Mr. Crombie came to New Zealand on private business. The journey was made on a cargo boat, the Corlic. There were only 24 passengers and the journey was a wearisome one. His business finished, Mr. Crombie decided that he would stay in New Zealand and obtained the post of secretary to Thomas Bracken, who then owned the “Saturday Advertiser” in Dunedin. In 1877 Mr. Crombie joined the New Zealand Railway service, and was ap-

pointed to the audit department at Dunedin. Soon afterwards he was transferred to Invercargill as cashier and accountant. Two years later Mr. Crombie left the railway service to become manager of the Dunedin tramways, a section of which had just been completed. Affairs did not run smoothly, however, and in December, 1879, Mr. Crombie was again back in the railways as goods agent at Dunedin. In March, 1884, Mr. Crombie was promoted to the position of stationmaster at Oamaru, where he remained until the end of January, 1895, when he was transferred back to Dunedin as stationmaster there. March, 1901, saw Mr. Crombie appointed district traffic manager at Greymouth, and in June of the following year he was transferred to Auckland as stationmaster. This last position he held until December, 1908, when he retired from the service because he had reached the age limit. Although it is some years since he left the service, Mr. Crombie has followed the welfare of the railways with the greatest interest. He recalled today that when he was stationmaster at Auckland he recommended that fares be reduced, and that trains be run more frequently in order to .encourage people to live in the country. Had this advice been taken the motorbus might have found the contest more difficult. Another of Mr. Crombie s suggestions to the department was that the Railway Department should take over the present ground occupied by the General Post Office and have the railwav station facing Queen Street. Even as far back as 1908, Mr. Crombie saw that Auckland would develop into a large and progressive city and tried to make arrangements for the alterations which would be necessary to deal with the increased traffic. To-day he sees that had some ot his suggestions been adopted much of the present trouble would have been avoided Auckland has grown, out of all recognition during the last years When Mr. Crombie took over the station it was even more humble than it is at present, and the temporary sheds were just beginning to make their appearance. “Yes it is time they had a new railwav station,” he remarked with a ..mile as lie remembers the comparativelv few trains which passed in and out of the station yard when he guided its growing destinies. In addition to other activities Mr, Crombie is a member of the Manurewa Masonic Lodge, - •